The Women’s and Gender Studies Certificate is administered through the Women’s and Gender Studies program in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado Denver. It is designed to provide members of the CU Denver population and public with specialized knowledge of the history, politics, literature, and social practices related to women’s and gender concerns. Students must complete 12 credit hours of coursework in order to receive the certificate. Acceptance into the certificate program is subject to CU Denver Graduate School rules.

The WGST certificate is available to any qualified graduate student or non-degree seeking, graduate-level student at CU Denver. Students begin with a required, graduate level methodology or foundational course before pursuing a combination of WGST-related coursework. Upon completion of the certificate, students will have foundational and theoretical knowledge of the major concerns of women’s and gender studies.

All prospective students must complete an application form obtained from the advisor for the WGST certificate listed below. Upon completion of the form and its approval, students are qualified for the certificate. All coursework must be taken at CU Denver.

The certificate requires the following coursework (12 credits in all).

Feminism and Gender Theory Seminar.  This can be fulfilled by taking ONE of the following courses:

• HIST/ENGL/WGST 5306 Survey of Feminist Thought (3 credits)
• ENGL/PHIL/WGST 5308: Contemporary Feminist Thought (3 credits)
• SSCI/HUMN/WGST 6010: Methods and Theories of Feminism and Gender Studies (3 credits)

Any additional 3 courses  (9 credits).  These courses must be explicitly related to gender and can be taken through any CU Denver department or program with the approval of an advisor.  All courses must be at the 5000 level or above.

The following is a representative listing of WGST related courses that may be taken toward the certificate; it is not comprehensive. Please note that some of these courses may be taught sporadically. Students should meet with their advisor to plan their course of study:

ANTH 5200 Gender in Cross Cultural Perspective
CLDE 5430 Gender as Culture
COMM 5045 Female-Male Friendships
COMM 5265 Gender and Communication
COMM/WGST 5660 Queer Media Studies
COUN 5835 Gender and Sexual Orientation
CPCE 5170 Issues in Family Studies
CRJU 5910 Nature and Scope of Interpersonal Violence
ENGL/HIST/WGST 5306 Survey of Feminist Thought
ENGL/PHIL 5308 Contemporary Feminist Thought
ENGL 5000 Study of Major Authors: Virginia Woolf, Jane Austen, or Margaret Atwood
ENGL/WGST 5510 Whores and Saints: Medieval Women
FREN 5510/WGST 5511 French Women Writers 
HIST/WGST 5303 Sex and Gender in Modern Britain
HIST/WGST 5307 History of Sexuality
HIST/WGST 5225 Urban America
HIST/WGST 5230 Women in the West
HIST 5245 Gender, Globalization and Development
HIST/WGST 5345 Gender, Science and Medicine: 1600 to the Present
HUMN/SSCI 5720 Sexuality, Gender, and Visual Representation
HUMN/SSCI/WSGST 6010 Methods and Theories of Feminism and Gender Studies
PHIL/WGST 5500 Feminist Philosophy
PHIL/WGST 5933: Philosophy of Eros
PSCI/WGST 5555 International Women’s Resistance
PSCI 5248/WGST 5248 Gender, Globalization, and Development
RLST/WGST 5420 Goddess Traditions
SOCY 5550 Seminar: Sociology of the Family
SPAN/WGST 4540 Race, Class and Gender in Spanish Golden Age Literature

For more information about this certificate program contact Dr. Michelle Comstock, Director, Women’s and Gender Studies Program at CU Denver; e-mail: michelle.comstock@ucdenver.edu